Rate of bilingual English-French Canadians declines as immigration grows | Fox News

Rate of bilingual English-French Canadians declines as immigration grows | Fox News: "But in Quebec, unlike in the rest of Canada, more immigrants are speaking both French and English than native-born Canadians."

Anti-drowning tech detects when swimmers are in danger | Crave - CNET

Anti-drowning tech detects when swimmers are in danger | Crave - CNET: "According to the Center for Disease Control's most recent statistics, there are about 10 fatal drownings per day. Children age 1 through 4 have the highest drowning rates."

"The SEAL system consists of a necklace-type device and a monitoring hub. A swimmer wears the neck band and goes underwater. The lifeguard or parent also wears a band. After a certain amount of time without surfacing, visual and audio alarms signal on the necklace, the hub, and the lifeguard's band."

Red State Socialism - Campaign for Liberty

Red State Socialism - Campaign for Liberty: "Some of these “conservative” Republicans even voted against an amendment forbidding farmers with an adjusted gross income of over $750,000 from receiving taxpayer subsidies."

"how can a Senator who votes for legislation giving subsides to wealthy farmers credibly argue for reductions in other areas of  spending?"

South Portland doctor stops accepting insurance, posts prices online — Portland — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

South Portland doctor stops accepting insurance, posts prices online — Portland — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine: "But the decision to do away with insurance allows Ciampi to practice medicine the way he sees fit, he said. Insurance companies no longer dictate how much he charges. He can offer discounts to patients struggling with their medical bills. He can make house calls."

"I’ve been able to cut my prices in half because my overhead will be so much less"

Rand Paul’s Hilarious Obamacare Rant: These Bizarre Injury Codes Are Included in New Law | Video | TheBlaze.com

Rand Paul’s Hilarious Obamacare Rant: These Bizarre Injury Codes Are Included in New Law | Video | TheBlaze.com: "include classifications for “injuries sustained from a turtle,” “walking into a lamppost” and “injuries sustained from burning water skis.”"

"312 new codes for injuries from animals; 72 new codes for injuries just from birds; 9 new codes for ‘injuries from the macaw.‘ "

"There’s also a code for ‘walking into a lamppost, subsequent encounter"

Atlanta hospitals find creating insurance company is Rx for what ails | Fox News

Atlanta hospitals find creating insurance company is Rx for what ails | Fox News: "Because insurers receive claims for doctor visits and medical care outside the hospital, they have a comprehensive view of each patient's medical history. If hospitals had access to that information, they could treat patients more efficiently and effectively, according to Wellstar CEO Reynold Jennings."

Customers settle bills forgotten in Boston Marathon bombings | Fox News

Customers settle bills forgotten in Boston Marathon bombings | Fox News: "he figures the unpaid bills totaled about $3,000. Since the April 15 blasts, he says about a dozen customers have made good on their bills, helping him recoup about $1,200."

Thousands of bridges at risk of freak collapse | Fox News

Thousands of bridges at risk of freak collapse | Fox News: "Major roadways used by thousands of U.S. drivers cross over "fracture critical" bridges -- a term meaning that if a single, vital component of the bridge is compromised, it is at risk of collapse."

"Because the bridge's key structures lacked redundancy, where if one piece fails, there is another piece to prevent the bridge from falling, when the gusset plate broke, much of the bridge collapsed."

Attorney General Holder says 4 American citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009 | Fox News

Attorney General Holder says 4 American citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009 | Fox News: "Attorney General Eric Holder says four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009."

3D Printing is Way Scarier Than Plastic Guns

3D Printing is Way Scarier Than Plastic Guns: "Technology is evolving at an accelerating rate and we really have no chance of keeping up with it - not legally, not legislatively, not socially, not strategically, and not at all. The best we can do is position ourselves to quickly adapt to change - it is the only guaranteed part of our reality."

"There are 3D printers that print in wood (a mixture of wood particles and binding agent that dries as wood) ceramic, carbon fiber, bronze, iron, steel, cellulose, human tissue (certain body parts for human transplant are grown using 3D printed frameworks)"

"you can find all kinds of CAD/CAM files for all kinds of gun parts, bomb parts, bazooka parts, rocket launcher parts and other deadly weapons online. These are computer files, like songs or movies or documents or images, they cannot be protected or digitally rights managed (DRM) any better than the entertainment industry has done with its intellectual property. A file is a file, if someone wants to copy it - it will be copied. You can't tell what the file contains unless you open it and, most importantly, there is no way to ban or prohibit the transfer of files. In this case, the genie is out of the bottle, you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, the ship has sailed - the files are out there."

"The replacement part was printed on demand. The spare part would have to have been manufactured in advance, stored on a shelf, picked, packed and shipped. Rent would have been paid on the real estate the physical spare part occupied and it would have to be kept in stock during the entire useful life of the particular stroller design.

Go have a look at an average manufacturing facility and see how much real estate and other resources are used storing parts that may break sometime in the future. Now multiply this by everything ever made in a factory and you start to see the kind of economic impact 3D printing may have. How about 3D printers in sterile environments (like Hospitals) creating specialized instruments for surgery (robotic or other)?"

"When high-speed laser printers became economical for people to have at home, they did not start printing counterfeit books - but the nature of printed material changed forever. That is exactly what is going to happen here. Some things will be 3D printed, others will not. Some things will be cheaper or better in 3D printed at home, others will be better 3D printed by companies like Shapeways, and still others will be printed in factories because it is more cost-effective to do so."

James E. Causey - Are you safer owning a gun for home protection?

James E. Causey - Are you safer owning a gun for home protection?: "Statistics bear out that there is a 50% chance that the gun is taken over,"

"you don't know if that burglar is the kid down the street or a street person who is just hungry"

If 50% are really able to take the gun then the "innocent" burglar must be quite rare. :-/

"My research showed that a gun owner was 43 times more likely to shoot and kill a family member than that he'd shoot and kill anybody else"

That confuses the tool with the outcome. The useful statistic would be how much gun ownership affects the number of innocent people killed.

Big government means permanent scandals | The Daily Caller

Big government means permanent scandals | The Daily Caller: "“Part of being president is there’s so much beneath you that you can’t know because the government is so vast.”

In other words, the government is too damn big."

"It also never dawns on the Axelrods or the Obamas that there is so much beneath them in the country that they can’t know anything about, from civil society to the health care sector. The events they seek to micromanage are so often beyond their competence.

But when we give the federal government the power to look at our private financial transactions, listen to our phone calls and regulate political speech, we shouldn’t be surprised when those powers are abused. Neither should we be surprised when those powers expand, with the government even inserting itself into Americans’ prayers."

"If we had a truly limited government, like the one the Founders designed, this wouldn’t be as much of a problem. There just aren’t a lot of tools for Chicago politicians in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. A smaller government would also be easier to manage — people might even be able to keep track of what’s going on inside of it."

Residents of Colorado neighborhood chase down man they thought sexually assaulted children | Fox News

Residents of Colorado neighborhood chase down man they thought sexually assaulted children | Fox News: "Residents angry that police had not warned them about sex assaults of children took matters into their own hands, chasing down a man they thought was the attacker, pelting him with rocks and leaving him with a bloody face"

"Police said the mob grew to about a half-dozen people as residents learned of the chase and joined in."


"We went through the right channels in contacting the police but there hasn't been much response,"


"police only had a vague description of the suspect"


It only took at half-dozen people to make a dangerous mob! Beating up an innocent man is a better response?!?!

How Government Killed the Medical Profession | Cato Institute

How Government Killed the Medical Profession | Cato Institute: "The designers of these systems believed that standardized classifications would lead to more accurate adjudication of Medicare claims.

What it actually did was force doctors to wedge their patients and their services into predetermined, ill-fitting categories."

"each procedure code was assigned a specific value, by a panel of experts, based supposedly upon the amount of time and labor it required. It didn’t matter if an operation was being performed by a renowned surgical expert—perhaps the inventor of the procedure—or by a doctor just out of residency doing the operation for the first time. They both got paid the same."

"the hospital is incentivized to attach as many adjunct diagnostic codes as possible to try to increase the Medicare payday"

"This coding system leads inevitably to distortions in epidemiological data [the information medical professionals use to track ailments across different regions and populations]."

"Being pressured into following a pre-determined set of protocols inhibits clinical judgment, especially when it comes to atypical problems. Some medical educators are concerned that excessive reliance on these protocols could make students less likely to recognize and deal with complicated clinical presentations that don’t follow standard patterns. It is easy to standardize treatment protocols. But it is difficult to standardize patients."

"On more than one occasion I have seen patients develop dramatic postoperative bruising and bleeding because of protocol-mandated therapies aimed at preventing the development of blood clots in the legs after surgery. Had these therapies been left up to the clinical judgment of the surgeon, many of these patients might not have had the complication."

"Sometimes—as in the case of John Natale of Arlington, Illinois, who began a 10-month sentence in November because he miscoded bills on five patients upon whom he repaired complicated abdominal aortic aneurysms—the penalty can even include prison."

"A June 2012 survey of 36,000 doctors in active clinical practice by the Doctors and Patients Medical Association found 90 percent of doctors believe the medical system is “on the wrong track” and 83 percent are thinking about quitting. Another 85 percent said “the medical profession is in a tailspin.” 65 percent say that “government involvement is most to blame for current problems.” In addition, 2 out of 3 physicians surveyed in private clinical practice stated they were “just squeaking by or in the red financially.” "

The Minimum Wage Delusion, and the Death of Common Sense | Cato Institute

The Minimum Wage Delusion, and the Death of Common Sense | Cato Institute: "Workers who retain their jobs are made better off but only at the expense of unskilled, mostly young, workers who either lose their jobs or can’t find a job at the legal minimum."

Electoral College Was Framers' Antidote to Popular Vote | Cato Institute

Electoral College Was Framers' Antidote to Popular Vote | Cato Institute: "The Framers meticulously crafted an electoral model that reduced sectionalism and reinforced minority rights. Instead, popular voting would favor regions with high voter density and large states over small. “One man, one vote” may be the rallying cry of a democracy; but that is not our form of governance.

We are a constitutional republic; political outcomes are not always determined by majority rule. … For example, it takes two-thirds of Congress to override presidential vetoes, approve treaties, impeach a president, or expel a member of Congress."

At Last, Justice for Locked-in Juveniles? | Cato Institute

At Last, Justice for Locked-in Juveniles? | Cato Institute: "Children who end up in juvenile courts often do not get due process protections like written complaints presenting the charges against them … or meaningful assistance of counsel"

“They languished over long weekends without proper hearings, were not read their Miranda rights and received crucial court documents just before hearings, if they received them at all …”

"students were jailed for infractions as minor as talking back to teachers or wearing socks that violated school dress codes.

“Some students had been shipped 80 miles to a juvenile detention center without probable cause or legal representation.” "

More than 85,000 veterans treated last year over alleged military sex abuse, report says | Fox News

More than 85,000 veterans treated last year over alleged military sex abuse, report says | Fox News: "More than 85,000 veterans were treated last year for injuries or illness stemming from sexual abuse in the military,"

"It really is the case that a veteran can simply walk through the door, say they've had this experience, and we will get them hooked up with care. There's no documentation required. They don't need to have reported it at the time,"

"The VA says 1 in 5 women and 1 in 100 men screen positive for military sexual trauma"

Woman stung by mom's 29-year-old Social Security debt

Woman stung by mom's 29-year-old Social Security debt: "I'm not the one that received these checks. I'm not the one that cashed the checks, and I am the one that is being punished for it"

Documents: Miss. ricin letters suspect tried to evade law enforcement days before arrest | Fox News

Documents: Miss. ricin letters suspect tried to evade law enforcement days before arrest | Fox News: "They say Dutschke hid under blankets in a friend's truck on April 24 and "appeared to attempt to elude law enforcement."

They say the friend and Dutschke drove "an evasive route" that took two hours to go 22 miles to a house.

Dutschke slipped away and was located the next day about 70 miles away in Ashland."

Maybe he thought he was being followed?!?

Businesses Should Have the Right to Make Their Case | Cato Institute

Businesses Should Have the Right to Make Their Case | Cato Institute: "Imagine a legal system that presumed you guilty until you prove your innocence. Imagine you not only had to prove the accusations against you false, but also to disprove other, unspecified charges, which prosecutors thought about filing against you but didn’t.

Imagine further that when the trial was over, the judge could decide your fate by inventing his own theory of how you might have committed the crime, and convict you merely because he could imagine that you did wrong.

Finally, imagine that when you tried to prove yourself innocent, the government could force you to stop simply by telling the judge—without any proof—that it thought you were guilty."

"Because he milked his cows and bottled the milk himself, Hettinga was exempt from federal regulations that forbid the sale of milk below certain minimum prices. That exemption enabled Hettinga to sell milk at much cheaper prices than large national dairy conglomerates could, and they didn’t like the competition. They got Congress to pass a law aimed solely at Hettinga’s company, forcing him to raise his prices and squeezing him out of the market.

But when he sued, arguing that singling him out in this way violated his right to due process of law, the court dismissed the case without trial—not on the basis of any evidence, but simply because the government claimed that the law was reasonable. That alone was enough, the judge said, because Hettinga, as a businessman, came within the “rational basis” test; evidence was beside the point."

"Dr. Mark Baumel, a Delaware physician, wanted to start a chain of clinics to screen patients for colorectal cancer, a disease that costs 50,000 American lives every year. Yet when he tried to set up a shop in Virginia, he found that the state’s “certificate of need” law makes it illegal to buy the necessary scanning equipment without government permission—and the government won’t give permission if another nearby clinic already has a scanner, even if that clinic doesn’t offer the same screening services."

Same Sex Parenting: What Do the Children Say?

Same Sex Parenting: What Do the Children Say?: "Those who contacted me all professed gratitude and love for the people who raised them, which is why it is so difficult for them to express their reservations about same-sex parenting publicly.

Still, they described emotional hardships that came from lacking a mom or a dad. To give a few examples: they feel disconnected from the gender cues of people around them, feel intermittent anger at their “parents” for having deprived them of one biological parent (or, in some cases, both biological parents), wish they had had a role model of the opposite sex, and feel shame or guilt for resenting their loving parents for forcing them into a lifelong situation lacking a parent of one sex."

No More Tax-Paid Presidential Pyramids | Cato Institute

No More Tax-Paid Presidential Pyramids | Cato Institute: "Though the libraries’ construction is privately funded, they’re managed by the National Archives and Records Administration, using federal tax dollars.

Last year, it cost the American taxpayer some $75 million to keep them open."

Why Is There a Dole for Farmers? | Cato Institute

Why Is There a Dole for Farmers? | Cato Institute: "most of the federal budget has nothing to do with the poor. In fact, Congress favors middle-class and corporate welfare, plus a plethora of lesser special interests."

"Even today two-thirds of American farm production, such as meat, fruit, and vegetables, is not subsidized. New Zealand got rid of all farm supports in 1984, and its farmers prospered."

"Uncle Sam manages to simultaneously keep prices up, drive prices down, generate massive surpluses, and create terrible shortages. Washington pays dairy farmers to add milk cows and then to slaughter milk cows."

“Subsidies are intended to compensate farmers for low prices that result from an oversupply of crops, but granting larger subsidies to farmers who plant the most crops merely encourages them to plant yet more crops, driving prices even lower and leading to calls for larger subsidies. Furthermore, while paying some farmers to plant more crops, the Conservation Reserve Program pays other farmers to plant fewer crops.”

“If we can’t eliminate the least valuable spending, then we will be condemned to perpetually large deficits, huge tax increases or indiscriminate cuts in many federal programs, the good as well as the bad.”

New Hampshire city sues group for paying strangers' parking meters | Fox News

New Hampshire city sues group for paying strangers' parking meters | Fox News: "A city in New Hampshire is suing a group that signs letters "Robin Hood and his Merry Men" that make a point of searching for expired parking meters and paying them before police can issue a ticket."


"They say video recording or talking to them is harassing them"

Another kind of gun control - Los Angeles Times

Another kind of gun control - Los Angeles Times: "Nearly 20 years ago, gun control advocates fought a bitter war to pass the Brady bill, the beginning of background checks for firearms. They predicted massive crime reductions, which did not come. An assault weapons ban followed, with the same predictions and same insignificant results. When the law expired, there were doomsday expectations of soaring body counts, which we didn't see. As the concealed-carry movement has swept the country, opponents have warned of public shootouts, while those in favor anticipated armed citizens stopping predators in the streets. Neither really happened."

"up to three-quarters of all homicides in many cities — is driven by gangs and drug crews. Most of the remainder is also concentrated among active criminals; ordinary citizens who own guns do not commit street robberies or shoot their neighbors and wives."

"Gun violence turns out to be driven by a fantastically small number of people: about 5% of the young men in the most dangerous neighborhoods. It is possible to identify them, put together a partnership of law enforcement, community figures and social service providers, and have a face-to-face engagement in which the authorities say, "We know who you are, we know what you're doing, we'd like to help you, but your violence has to stop, and there will be serious legal consequences if it doesn't."

The original version of this approach, Operation Ceasefire in Boston, cut youth homicide by two-thirds and all homicide by half. A version aimed at parolees with violent criminal records returning to particularly hot Chicago neighborhoods cut homicide by nearly 40%."

Arizona Police Officer Gives Bike to Teen Who Walks 9 Miles to Work - Yahoo! News

Arizona Police Officer Gives Bike to Teen Who Walks 9 Miles to Work - Yahoo! News: "If everybody could help just one person in the world like this, I think it would definitely be a better place to life."

South Carolina woman accused of using ambulance as taxi -- at least 100 times | Fox News

South Carolina woman accused of using ambulance as taxi -- at least 100 times | Fox News: "A South Carolina woman was arrested after authorities discovered she called 911 at least 100 times in the past seven years to get rides into Charleston, the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office says.

Audrey Ferguson, 51, allegedly faked illnesses and would immediately sign out of area hospitals upon arrival, telling doctors she was fine, WCSC reports."

"Each of Ferguson’s trips cost $425 plus mileage, and officials say taxpayers may have to pay a bill of more than $400,000 to cover expenses that aren’t covered by Medicaid, WCSC reports."

The False Security of Surveillance Cameras | Cato Institute

The False Security of Surveillance Cameras | Cato Institute: "Between the throngs of spectators and police on the scene and the television cameras broadcasting the event, the Boston Marathon must have been one of the most monitored spots in the country on that grim afternoon.

That we can identify suspects from video footage after the fact — knowing the time, location and method of the attack — does not make it realistic to suppose an observer at a monitor station could have identified the impending attack and intervened in time when those on the ground did not, however comforting that supposition might be.

Terror attacks are (thankfully) so rare and varied that any system with the slightest chance of detecting a real one would necessarily yield a vast, paralyzing number of false positives.

It is also unlikely that cameras will be especially helpful in deterring such attacks. Even when it comes to ordinary crime — where the perpetrators are generally motivated by the desire to make a quick buck without getting caught — studies have been mixed and inconclusive about the value of CCTV cameras as a crime deterrent."

Privatize Almost Everything | Cato Institute

Privatize Almost Everything | Cato Institute: "The air-traffic controller fiasco last week was a perfect illustration of how almost all governments eventually turn against the citizens they are supposed to protect and serve. As The Wall Street Journal noted April 26, the Federal Aviation Administration “managed to convert a less than 4 percent budget cut into a 10 percent air traffic control cut that would delay 40 percent of flights.” This occurred despite several years of substantial budget increases for the agency, coupled with a decreasing number of flights and workload for the controllers."

"Canada’s Air Traffic Control system is run by the nonprofit corporation Nav Canada, which is separate from the government. It raises money from its customers to cover operational costs and capital investments. Unlike the U.S. system, Nav Canada is self-supporting and not subsidized.” It also has a reputation for being very well run, with state-of-the-art systems (unlike the FAA). Approximately 50 countries have now, in part or fully, privatized their air-traffic control systems — with excellent results."

Committee seeks judge's order before names of mentally incompetent vets sent to gun registry | Fox News

Committee seeks judge's order before names of mentally incompetent vets sent to gun registry | Fox News: "Currently, the Department of Veterans Affairs automatically submits the names to the FBI's database of those veterans who are deemed unable to handle their own financial affairs and have a fiduciary appointed to administer their benefits.

But the House Committee on Veterans Affairs approved legislation requiring a judge's order before a veteran's name is submitted to the database. Lawmakers said veterans who are not a threat to harm themselves or others should not be denied a constitutional right to buy and possess guns."

George F. Will: The government puts a limit on free speech about taxes - The Washington Post

George F. Will: The government puts a limit on free speech about taxes - The Washington Post: "The government’s total price rule forbids the airlines from calling attention to the tax component of the price of a ticket by listing the price the airline charges and then the tax component with equal prominence. The rule mandates that any listing of the tax portion of a ticket’s price “not be displayed prominently and be presented in significantly smaller type than the listing of the total price.” The government is trying to prevent people from clearly seeing the burdens of government."

"The government, far from regulating to prevent customer confusion, is trying to prevent customers from understanding the taxes and fees that comprise approximately 20 percent of the average airline ticket."

Mom survey says: Three is the most stressful number of kids - TODAY.com

Mom survey says: Three is the most stressful number of kids - TODAY.com: “There’s just not enough space in your head” for perfectionism when you get to four or more kids, Taylor said. For example, she recalls with her fourth child she didn’t bother with things like obsessively covering all the outlets with safety plugs.

Smoking Stupidity | Cato Institute

Smoking Stupidity | Cato Institute: "The research evidence about adolescent smoking is full of powerful explanations for why some kids smoke and others do not. None relate to the legal age for buying cigarettes."

Works of art that will mark hurricane evacuation points arriving in New Orleans | Fox News

Works of art that will mark hurricane evacuation points arriving in New Orleans | Fox News: "More than a dozen sculptures that will be used to call attention to evacuation points around New Orleans are arriving in the city."

That sounds like a good way to help people remember those locations.

Passing resolutions in a political party

Currently political party resolutions only require greater than 50% support to pass, so some resolutions may have many people who oppose them. How can political parties expect our elected officials to follow all of the party resolutions when many party members might oppose each of the resolutions and support for all resolutions could technically be much less than 50%?

Should resolutions require a super-majority in order to pass?

Illegal Immigrration solutions

The two major solutions to illegal immigrations (amnesty and securing borders) both seem to be band-aids that don't address the causes of the problem. I think the fact that legal immigration is so hard is a huge factor in illegal immigration.

There is a plaque on the Statue of Liberty that says "Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" and before 1921 we didn't restrict the number of people who could immigrate but now we have an arbitrary limit per area.

We should first ensure that there are minimal hurdles to legal immigration. That will greatly reduce illegal immigration and allow us to focus our border security efforts on the real bad people. It will also give a great incentive to current illegal immigrants to go back and come through the legal path.

Tim Carney on the Real Lessons of Boston - Campaign for Liberty

Tim Carney on the Real Lessons of Boston - Campaign for Liberty: "the “what are you hiding?” question should be thrown at the government instead. Why would you want to avoid asking the public or a business for video, or asking a judge for a warrant, unless you were seeking information for improper purposes?"

Proposed SC budget says Gov. Nikki Haley and staff can't buy junk food with public money | Fox News

Proposed SC budget says Gov. Nikki Haley and staff can't buy junk food with public money | Fox News: "State senators inserted a clause in the 2013-14 budget plan that would bar Gov. Nikki Haley's office and the Governor's Mansion from buying junk food with public money, whether for employee treats or entertaining. The move was a response to state efforts to fight obesity by limiting what people can buy with money from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, known more commonly as food stamps."

Zac Wallerius, who has Down Syndrome, hailed as Cornell's Prom King

Zac Wallerius, who has Down Syndrome, hailed as Cornell's Prom King: "“It’s not about a class of students nominating someone with a disability,” Cornell Junior/High School Principal Dave Elliot said. “It’s about nominating someone they care about who happens to have a disability.”"

I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet | The Verge

I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet | The Verge: "What I do know is that I can't blame the internet, or any circumstance, for my problems. I have many of the same priorities I had before I left the internet: family, friends, work, learning. And I have no guarantee I'll stick with them when I get back on the internet — I probably won't, to be honest. But at least I'll know that it's not the internet's fault. I'll know who's responsible, and who can fix it."

Schoolgirl tries science experiment, arrested for felony | Technically Incorrect - CNET News

Schoolgirl tries science experiment, arrested for felony | Technically Incorrect - CNET News: "This student at Bartow High School in Florida allegedly thought she'd put a couple of household chemicals in an 8-ounce water bottle, just to see the reaction.
The reaction was that she was expelled and marched off in handcuffs, accused of felony possession/discharge of a dangerous weapon."

"Ron Pritchard, explained that she was notorious -- for being a very nice person.
Pritchard said: "She is a good kid. She has never been in trouble before. Ever."
You might imagine, then, that this explosion caused vast damage to school buildings, which had to be evacuated.
Not quite. The top of the bottle popped off and there was some smoke. No one was hurt."

"One of the most important parts of a science education lies in the need to experiment. It's only curious minds that make the world progress.
One of the most important parts of a general education is the teaching of judgment.
Who exercised the worse judgment here? Kiera Wilmot or the Polk County Schools District and the local police?"

Can a 4,000-mile wall of trees stop Sahara Desert's drift? - CSMonitor.com

Can a 4,000-mile wall of trees stop Sahara Desert's drift? - CSMonitor.com: "The initiative plans to strategically plant swaths of trees roughly nine miles wide and over 4,000 miles long.

The central idea is for this belt of forest to serve as a barrier against desert winds and thus revitalize soil to protect against land degradation."

"Mongolia and China began similar efforts to combat the encroachment of the Gobi Desert in 2006. Furthermore, President Franklin Roosevelt initiated successful Shelterbelt programs in the 1930s, using strategic planting of foliage to combat the land degradation caused by the Dust Bowl on the American high plains.

The Shelterbelt initiative, however, was successful because it supplemented its “green wall” policies with monetary incentives for farmers who changed their techniques to more ecologically sound production methods."

Government Spending Up, Private GDP Down | Cato Institute

Government Spending Up, Private GDP Down | Cato Institute: "The downward slope of Excel’s fitted trend line means that higher government spending growth in a year corresponds to reduced private GDP growth that year. For example, if real government spending growth was zero, private GDP would be expected to grow at 4.2 percent. If real government spending growth was 5 percent, private GDP growth would be expected to fall to 2.8 percent."